Conventional delivery services, especially long distance express delivery services, offer a wide variety of different types of service which it is important for those sorting, viewing, making up, and delivering packages be able to easily recognize. This is typically done by printing the type of delivery service on a package label with color indicia which indicates the type of service. However since conventional cost effective printers, such as thermal transfer printers, are not capable of printing the same label with one of the multiple colors that are used for different types of delivery service, and also bar code, text, and like variable indicia (such as address indicia), it is necessary to print two different labels in some circumstances, and three in others where a compliance label, a service indicator label, and a D.O.T. label are utilized.
According to the present invention a thermal transfer ribbon, and a method of utilization thereof for labeling packages, are provided which allow a single label to be printed with variable indicia, such as bar code and text indicia, such as address indicia, and for color indicia, such as indicating the type of delivery service provided for the package to which the label is applied, also imaged on the same label. In order to achieve this result a special thermal transfer ribbon having multiple other colors (besides black) must be utilized. However conventional thermal transfer ribbons are either single color, or at most contain one other color besides black, and therefore are incapable of effective utilization with labels that might require two or more other colors besides black, and therefore conventional ribbons cannot solve the problem that is solved according to the invention. While multicolor ribbons per se are known (such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,766,449, 4,835,603, and 4,925,324) conventional multicolor ribbons are also incapable of achieving the desired results that can be achieved according to the invention.
The thermal transfer ribbon and method of labeling packages utilizing the thermal transfer ribbon according to the present invention are highly advantageous compared to conventional ribbons and methods.
According to one aspect of the present invention a thermal transfer ribbon elongated in a first dimension is provided comprising the following components: A first substantially continuous black thermal transfer ink portion elongated in the first dimension and having a first width in a second dimension, substantially transverse to the first dimension. A second multicolored thermal transfer ink portion adjacent the first black thermal transfer ink portion and elongated in the first dimension and having a second width in the second dimension. And, the second multicolored thermal transfer ink portion including at least two ink colors other than black and white having a predetermined length in the first dimension, and substantially regularly repeating along the length of the ribbon in the first dimension. The thermal transfer ribbon is otherwise conventional, including the ink, substrate, and any other aspect thereof.
Preferably the thermal transfer ink multicolored portion includes at least three colors other than black or white substantially regularly repeating along the length of the ribbon in rectangular configuration consecutive and adjacent sections, and each of the colors preferably has substantially the same predetermined length. For example the multicolored thermal transfer ink portion includes at least four colors other than black and white (e.g. including red, blue, green and another color, such as orange) substantially regularly repeating along the length of the ribbon.
Especially for the printing of a four inch by six inch compliance label, such as the type used in association with conventional delivery services, each of the colors of the multicolored thermal transfer ink portion has a predetermined length of about 1.5 inches, which repeat approximately every six inches; and the first width is about three inches and the second width about one inch.
The ribbon also preferably comprises sense marks which facilitate determination of where the colors of the multicolored portion are located along the first dimension to facilitate proper registration of the ribbon with a thermal printer. For example a sense mark may be provided for each of the colored portions. Typically the ribbon has a first face containing ink, and a second non-inked face, and the sense marks are preferably on the second, non-inked, face, although they can also or alternatively be provided on the first face.
According to another aspect of the present invention a method of labeling packages utilizing a thermal transfer printer, a multicolor thermal transfer ribbon comprising black ink and at least two other color inks besides black and white, and a label having a first face for receipt of indicia and a second face having pressure sensitive adhesive, is provided. The method comprises: (a) Using the thermal transfer printer and ribbon, imaging variable black ink indicia on the first face of the label. (b) Using the thermal transfer printer and ribbon, also imaging colored indicia from at least one of the at least two other color inks on the first face of the label. And, (c) placing on a package the pressure sensitive adhesive of the second face of the label having both variable black indicia and colored indicia on the first face thereof.
Typically (a) is practiced to print variable bar code and text indicia, including typically address indicia (both human and machine readable), and (b) is typically practiced to print only one of the other colors on the label, and wherein that other color is indicative of a particular type of delivery service. For example the ribbon may comprise at least three other colors (e.g. four or even more colors) and be as practiced to print only one of the at least three other colors on the label.
The ribbon may have sense marks indicating the positions of the at least two (or at least three) other color inks thereon, in which case the method further comprises (d) sensing the sense marks; and (e) using the sensed information from (d) to control the registry of the colored ink portions of the ribbon with the thermal transfer printer to insure that the desired ink color is printed in (b).
In the practice of the method, the label may be a lined label, having a release liner covering the address face, in which case the method further comprises (d), between (b) and (c), removing the release liner before applying the label to the package. Alternatively the label may be a linerless label having no release liner covering the adhesive face, in which case (c) is practiced substantially immediately after (b), there being no reason to remove the release liner.
While the invention has other applicabilities, it is particularly suitable for use by package delivery services which have a wide variety of different types of services (such as one day early, one day afternoon, two day, Saturday, etc.), and including long distance delivery services. By providing a single label having all the variable indicia necessary to provide the address for and track the label (e.g. some of the variable indicia including bar tracking indicia) and additionally clearly indicate to everyone viewing the label the type of delivery service that is provided (since the label is effectively color coded) a highly advantageous package labeling system is provided.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a highly advantageous thermal transfer ribbon, and a method of labeling packages utilizing that ribbon, so as to be able to substantially decrease package labeling costs. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention, and from the appended claims.